JENA, LA: DEFINITELY RACIST

From the Chicago Tribune courtesy of Eschaton:

White supremacist backlash builds over Jena case

No sooner did tens of thousands of African-American demonstrators depart the racially tense town of Jena, La., last week after protesting perceived injustices than white supremacists flooded in behind them.

First a neo-Nazi Web site posted the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six black teenagers and their families at the center of the Jena 6 case and urged followers to find them and "drag them out of the house," prompting an investigation by the FBI.

Then the leader of a white supremacist group in Mississippi published interviews that he conducted with the mayor of Jena and the white teenager who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by the six black youths. In those interviews, the mayor, Murphy McMillin, praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counterdemonstrations; the teenager, Justin Barker, urged white readers to "realize what is going on, speak up and speak their mind."

Click here for the rest.

I think I mentioned this a couple of years ago, but it's well worth repeating here. Back around the time that former KKK leader David Duke was running for Louisiana governor, I ended up in a brief conversation with a bartender in Houston about the racist leader. I wasn't even trying to be controversial. I think I just said something to the friend I was with about how Duke was so obviously still a racist. The bartender jumped in with some protestation to the effect of "no he's not a racist; he's just for common sense, protecting the rights of white people." I didn't even know where to begin refuting his bullshit, and worried that doing so might lead to some sort of confrontation, so I just brushed it off and left soon after.

That's the problem we have in Jena, Vidor, Texas, and apparently New Orleans, too: there are large numbers of racist whites who honestly believe they're not racist. They won't listen to reason because their views are unreasonable in the first place. They generally keep quiet about their views because they understand that non-racists disagree with them. How do you persuade these people who feel like they're reasonable but are actually incredibly irrational? How do you talk to them without pissing them off? I mean, that's what happens when you confront them with the truth; they just reject it and start yelling. What do you do?

That's the next hurdle for race relations in the US. Dealing with angry denial.

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